Unicron Returns
On Toy News International I saw an interesting news item that said that Hasbro was reissuing the planet devouring Transformer known as Unicron. While this is decent news if you’re a Transformers fan and missed him the first time around, it’s not really big news to get into a tizzy over (at least for me). However, there was another angle to this story that I found quite amusing… the annoying NERD angle.
This toy Unicron was originally made for Transformers Armada, but he looked close enough to me to pass the muster as the one I remember from my childhood in Transformers: The Movie (click here for a super awesome review of the flick). In fact my buddy Shawn has him and he looks pretty sweet. When I read some of the comments on Tformers.com, I found that not everyone feels the same way despite my previous impression. Just check out this comment (Warning: Comment May Give you Dousche Chills):
Why should I care about Hasbro’s attempt to cash in on some nostalgia while making a Unicron toy that’s for a completely different Transformers continuity? It’s not G1 Unicron, it’s Armada Unicron and it will never be anything but Armada Unicron.
Wow… just wow. I need to take a shower to get the angry nerd off of me now.
July 8th, 2008 at 9:43 am
You can actually hear it being spoken in Seth Green’s “nerd” voice from Robot Chicken.
July 8th, 2008 at 9:58 am
I don’t have any complaints about G1 vs Armada Unicron, he’s close enough in my book to be awesome.
My complaint is that from the photo on ebay it seems to be the same colors as Armada Unicron exactly. Guess I can save 50 bucks.
Also is this a Universe toy or a 25th toy? The 25th Ann line isn’t just G1, Hasbro stated at Botcon they were doing ALL continuities with at least one toy. Like the new Cheetor and Arm Hot Shot who both rock.
July 8th, 2008 at 10:17 am
As a fervent Transformers G1 fan, my Armada Unicron is a wonderful addition to my collection. It was probably this toy that kick started my love of that plastic crack that are Transformers.
I’m a big fan of the Classics line as it stands right now and if they maintain the initial color scheme there is no problem. Hasbro has done far too many repaints of the Armada & Energon lines ….
Okay I’ll stop now but those commenters are obviously basement dwellers.
July 15th, 2008 at 4:50 pm
Speaking as a pre-TF fan, I think this toy is a marvel. I collect mostly toys from the Japanese Microman series, which was, along with spinoff toyline Diaclone was the parent series of the toys that Hasbro licensed from Takara to make G1. Since I was just starting to collect the Japanese toys at the same time the re-importing of TF into Japan resulted in the cancellation of the parent toylines, I used to a sort of bitter anti-fan in the 80’s…vicariously enjoying the cartoon to the extent that it at least brought the toys to life I wanted to see. In actuality, the original Microman series had lost its way storywise after the toyline continuity had been “reset” in 1980 and most of the core remaining themes were picked up on by TF anyway (cybernetic alien heroes come to Earth in disguise, fighting their ancient nemesis in secret–even mass-shifting played a role in the original 70’s manga, lol). Ad to that most of the Japanese team of designers was retained or even moved up in management who had created Microman and Diaclone, and they continued to use the same design motifs in TF that they had developed. What I’m getting at is that Unicron isn’t just a fine representation of the character from the movie, but he also is a loving homage by the Japanese desginers to their prior SF toy history, with their favored motifs of clear plastic revealing cybernetic detailings (recurring in their SF toys since the early 70’s) and a plethora of 5mm connectors, which while used in Energon and Armada for minicons and weapons, is the standby standard that has been used in the Microman toyline since 1974 for part-swapping compatibility across the decades. This toy to me is the acme of that tradition of toy design that speaks to TF fan and pre-TF fan alike. And Takara brought Microman back better than ever in 1999, so how can I complain anymore?
August 5th, 2008 at 2:19 am
Why should I care about Hasbro’s attempt to cash in on some nostalgia while making a Unicron toy that’s for a completely different Transformers continuity? It’s not G1 Unicron, it’s Armada Unicron and it will never be anything but Armada Unicron.
Pah! I can out-nerd that!
Unicron is a singularity: in all multiple universes, there is only one Unicron. The Unicron from Armada is the same Unicron from G1, and will be the same Unicron from the live-action movie and the new TF: Animated series, should he show up there. One Unicron, up down and sideways, so stick that up your skidplate, you inferior Tformers.com nerd!